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Thursday, October 23, 2014
Utah Supreme Court Clears Way for Same-Sex Couples to Adopt Children
Posted By Colby Frazier on October 23, 2014, 4:41 PM
The Utah State Supreme Court on Thursday overturned its own stay that forbid legally married same-sex couples from seeking co-parent adoptions.
Same-sex marriage advocates had long pointed to the inability of gay couples to adopt one another's children as a marquee example of the way bans on gay marriage harmed families. Under Utah's Amendment 3, which banned same-sex marriage, only one adult in a same-sex relationship could be the legal parent of a child.
During the window of legal same-sex marriage earlier this year, many of the thousands of couples who were wed in the Beehive State sought to adopt their children. Some adoptions scooted through the process before state officials ordered judges to halt the process.
Thursday's decision was a natural domino to fall after the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 decided it would not hear Utah and other states' appeals seeking to uphold bans on same-sex marriage. The non decision by the high court legalized same-sex marriage.
And now, many parents who have raised their children, but have been legally prohibited from being recognized as that child's parent, can breathe much easier.
Same-sex marriage advocates had long pointed to the inability of gay couples to adopt one another's children as a marquee example of the way bans on gay marriage harmed families. Under Utah's Amendment 3, which banned same-sex marriage, only one adult in a same-sex relationship could be the legal parent of a child.
During the window of legal same-sex marriage earlier this year, many of the thousands of couples who were wed in the Beehive State sought to adopt their children. Some adoptions scooted through the process before state officials ordered judges to halt the process.
Thursday's decision was a natural domino to fall after the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 decided it would not hear Utah and other states' appeals seeking to uphold bans on same-sex marriage. The non decision by the high court legalized same-sex marriage.
And now, many parents who have raised their children, but have been legally prohibited from being recognized as that child's parent, can breathe much easier.
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